GNDR 460
Senior Seminar: Feminism and the Construction of Knowledge
Spring 2007
Dr. Valerie Lehr
Phone: 229-5677
Email: vlehr@stlawu.edu
Office hours: Tuesday 1:00 - 2:30 and by appointment
In this capstone course for the Gender Studies minor, we will
explore how feminist perspectives inform both the construction
of the interdisciplinary field of gender studies and the work that feminist
scholars do as they transform traditional disciplines and disciplinary ways
of knowing and thinking. After discussions with a number of gender studies'
faculty about how feminism influences their work, students will be asked
to reflect on how their gender studies minor influences the ways by which
they approach their academic majors. This will lead you to define a paper
topic intended to allow you to explore the intersection of your major and
minor.
Required Text:
Hesse-Biber, Gilmartin, and Lydenberg, Feminist Approaches
to Theory and Methodology, Oxford University Press, 1999.
Class Schedule:
| 1/24 | Introduction: Transformations and Feminism: Society and Knowledge. |
| 1/31 | Hesse-Beiber, Gilmartin, and Lydenberg, Introduction and Section I. Assignment #1 handed out. |
| 2/7 | Hesse-Beiber, Gilmartin, and Lydenberg, Chapters 5, 7, 8, 9. |
| 2/14 | Attend Vagina Monolgues and enjoy the snow |
| 2/21 | Hesse-Beiber, Gilmartin, and Lydenberg, Chapters 12, 12, 14, 15, 16, and . You should complete the assignment on Angel. |
| 2/28 | Paper on your major due. Attend Out at the Movies. |
| 3/7 | Danielle Egan will come to class to discuss her work. Reading to be assigned. |
| 3/14 | Caroline Breashears will come to class to discuss her work. Reading to be assigned. |
| 3/28 | Conferences. You should each have a paper proposal when you meet with me, including a bibliography with at least 7 sources. You must have read at least 2 of these sources. |
| 4/4 | Preliminary report to the entire class: What are your questions? Why are they interesting to you? What have your learned thus far? |
| 4/11 | Meet in research groups with a draft of at least 3 pages. |
| 4/18 | Meet in your research group to discuss complete draft |
| 4/25 | Paper Presentations |
| 5/3 | Paper Presentations |
Assignments:
1) Response Papers:
For each week that we read Hesse-Beiber, et al., you will write a response
in which you note at least one interesting
point from each essay, discuss how these essays seem to be connected either
to one another or to broad questions of gender studies and epistemology,
and raise one discussion question. These need not be long, but they need
to demonstrate that you have completed the read and thought carefully about
it. Since we will use these papers in class, you must have it with you. No
late papers will be accepted. If either Danielle Egan or Caroline Breashears
ask you to write a response, it will also be part of this grade. -- 20 %
of your final grade.
2) Paper discussing epistemology and methodology in your major: 20 % of your final grade.
3) Final paper and presentation: This will be an approximately 15 page paper in which you reflect on how your gender studies minor helps you to reflect on and better understand a question of interest to you. Unless there is something that you are really, really interested in outside of your major, this should be a question that is connected to your major. This project will have multiple graded components. 50% of your final grade.
4) Participation: You should be actively engaged in class discussion. This means not only that you contribute, but that you contribute in a way that indicates preparation. 10% of your final grade.
Academic Honesty:
Please follow all rules of academic honesty.
Failure to do so will result in your work being submitted to the Academic
Honor Council.